Japan is a leading forested country, but in recent years, the lack of management of planted forests, which occupy a large area, and their abandonment have been spreading unchecked. People are “separated” from forests in terms of both livelihood and economy, and various problems caused by underutilization are becoming apparent. This study aims to investigate people’s and society’s perceptions of the value of forests, including their cultural aspects, and to identify ways to rebuild a sustainable mutual relationship between people, society, and forests.

Why do this study?

Japan is one of the most forested countries in the world, with nearly 70% of its land area covered by forests. However, forestry is not an active industry in Japan today, and the population decline in the near-forest areas has not been halted. The reason for this situation is that people have lost the sense of value of why forests are necessary and what kind of forests are needed. As a result, we are losing the ability to see the future direction of forest management and use.

With this awareness of these issues, we aim to show the way to reconstruct a sustainable relationship between people and forests, and to create the approaches and methods necessary to reach this goal.

What we want to do

At the same time, we will investigate what kind of thoughts and ideas Japanese people have about forests today, as well as historically clarify the changes in the values that Japanese people and society have held toward forests.

In addition to this research in Japan, we will conduct surveys of people’s views on forests in developed European countries such as Finland and countries in the Global South such as Indonesia, and compare them with the Japanese survey to explore how differences in socioeconomics, natural environment, ethnicity, and culture affect their views on forests.